The Ferret's All Right
by MPRose
Summary: Avoid duels until he knows how, and have a say in his sorting to become a Gryffindor – Sound advice form his dad that Albus really wants to follow. Oh, if only things were that simple. But sometimes one has to choose between what's right and what's easy, as his namesake once said. And Scorpius is not making it easy. Follows the books to the letter, except for Snape being alive.
1. Chapter 1

**The Ferret's All Right**

A\N: Technically set in the CB-verse. But the only thing that carries over from there is the fact that Snape's alive.

Summary: Avoid duels until he knows how, and have a say in his sorting to become a Gryffindor – Sound advice form his dad that Albus really wants to follow. Oh, if only things were that simple. But sometimes one has to choose between what's right and what's easy, as his namesake once said. And Scorpius is not making it easy. Follows the books to the letter, except for Snape being alive.

* * *

The shrill sound of a whistle, and the train was moving. Albus pressed himself against the window, to see his parents and sister as he glided away from them. As he saw them grow smaller and smaller, he started to wave frantically as well. In no time at all, they had turned into small dots in the distance, and then the train turned and he lost them from his vision.

He looked at Rose, standing next to him, whose face was flushed in an expression of barely suppressed excitement. They stopped waving at the same time, though his cousin's boisterous hand movement had hardly been similar to Albus' panicked one, who was only now realising that he had just left his family and would not be seeing them again for months.

Rose, finally noticing his subdued mood, told him, "Come on, Al, let's go find the others."

Those others she was talking about were their numerous cousins, and Albus' older brother, who were at present located on the Hogwarts Express. Remembering that, Albus felt at once better. They might be a loud, nosy bunch, but they were family, as well. There was no fear of him ever being alone at school.

The corridors were still full of students running around, trying to find seats. It turned out quite a hassle to track down the other members of their clan. And finding them turned out to be the easiest part, in the end.

Victoire was first. Eldest of their cousins and Head Girl, she was the one who found them while making her rounds. They almost went with her, used to her authority throughout their childhood.. But then Teddy's voice called out of her talking mirror, and she turned her back to them to chat with him. Knowing full well how long Victoire's talking mirror chats usually lasted, they quietly slipped away.

Next was Molly. She was the easiest to find, all they had to do was ask for the prefects' compartment. But five minutes in there were enough to convince Albus of two things: Molly was not going to leave the compartment until it was time for her to be making rounds, and he could not, under any circumstances, spend the journey being poked and prodded by prefects who all had a penchant for giving advice and asking nosy questions about the more well-known members of Albus' family. He shot Rose a begging look, and she complied with an exaggerated eye roll.

It was at that moment, as they slipped out of the prefects' compartment, that they first saw him up close. The pale blond boy their parents had been talking about on the platform was leaning against the wall, surrounded by a few older students, a couple of which already wore their school uniforms, proclaiming them members of Slytherin House.

At that point several things happened at once. The group of students stopped talking and turned to face them, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. The pale boy in the middle shot them a look that Albus would swear started out relieved, only to turn into dismayed an instant later. At the same time, James appeared in the corridor, together with Fred.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you," he said as soon as he caught sight of his younger brother.

"Oi, Jamie, look who else is here," Fred said, and both boys' attention focused on the Slytherin students.

"Potter and Weasley. What a... surprise. Did you want anything?" asked a rather burly older boy, whose composed tone clashed with the malicious look in his eyes.

"Why, are we interrupting something?" asked James with the same chilled politeness as the Slytherin.

"We were just having a little chat."

The pale boy's face tightened at this, and blanched even further, but his expression did not waver, and he did not say anything.

"Sure you were," James muttered under his breath.

Then he turned to Albus and Rose. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Fred shot the Slytherins a final dark look before he also followed James.

A short while later they found themselves in a compartment with several other students of different ages, who nevertheless all seemed to know each other well. Dominique, Victoire's younger sister, was also there.

"Oh, you found them," she said as soon as they entered.

It seemed as though the first years were at last settled for the journey. They were with family, and they had the opportunity to get to know a few new faces.

But they soon discovered that the students inside that compartment were members of the Gryffindor quidditch team and their most faithful fans, which included James and Fred. Worst of all, they talked about nothing but quidditch. The year had not even started yet, and they were already discussing strategies, and strengths and weaknesses of the other teams.

Ordinarily, both Albus and Rose could enjoy some quidditch talk, but despite that, it took less than an hour for them to be bored out of their minds. Fred and James, on the other hand, were not showing any signs of boredom. They were enjoying being included in the quidditch players' discussions, and were eagerly asking about try-outs.

Rose and Albus exchanged long-suffering looks. James had spent the whole summer talking about the coming year's try-outs, now that he was a second year and was finally allowed to have his own broom and try for the House team. He had annoyed his parents for days until they had finally given up and bought him a ridiculously expensive broom. And then he had spent the rest of the summer training like a madman. He was not getting bored any time soon.

Conceding defeat, Albus and Rose snuck out of that compartment as well, and went to look for an unoccupied one. Making friends would have to wait until they had arrived at Hogwarts.

They did not find any empty compartments this late into the journey, but they did find one with a single occupant, a first year just like them, the pale boy from before. Rose opened the door before they lost their nerve and they went in.

"Can we sit here? Everywhere else is full," she told the boy as he looked up.

The boy's eyes widened as he saw who was talking to him, and colour rose to his face, but he merely nodded and then turned to stare out of the window.

The cousins looked at each other, shrugged, and sat down in front of him.

Albus cleared his throat to end the silence, and asked, "So, what's your name, then?"

The boy shot him a calculating look. "Malfoy," he finally said.

"I'm guessing that's your last name?" At Malfoy's irritated look he once again cleared his throat. "Right. Of course it is. So... what's your first name?"

Malfoy did not quite hold his gaze this time as he mumbled, "Scorpius," before turning towards the window once again.

"Well, Scorpius, I'm Rose Weasley, and this is my cousin Albus Potter," said Rose.

Malfoy frowned. "I know who you are." There was something almost accusatory in both his tone and his expression.

The cousins exchanged bewildered looks.

"You do?" Albus tried to go on with the conversation. "Oh, you mean you know who our parents are, right? Yeah, lots of people have heard of my dad, though I'm not entirely sure why. He said it's because he defeated some dark wizard. But he's an auror. I mean, he's supposed to catch dark witches and wizards, isn't he?" He stopped rambling at this point, because Scorpius' expression seemed to close off more with every word he said.

"You know, I think I know who your dad is, too," Rose tried once more after a moment's silence. "He's a healer at St. Mungo's isn't he? Whenever someone's been hurt by dark magic, Healer Malfoy's name pops up. And Dad always complains that he knows too much dark magic, but Mum says he wouldn't be able to help so many people if he didn't..."

Albus was not sure what it was Rose said that did it, but Scorpius looked furious, his whole face flushed an angry pink. And underneath the anger was hurt pride. "That's your idea of a joke, is it?" he ground out.

"It wasn't meant to be a joke," Rose said in her most pacifying tone. "I really thought Healer Malfoy was your father. I'm sorry if you find that insulting, or-"

"I don't. I'm Draco Malfoy's son. There's nothing insulting about that."

"No, of course not," Albus frowned. " We never said anything of the sort. Where did you get that idea from, anyway?"

Malfoy's face crumbled, and for a second Albus thought the other boy would either start shouting or sobbing. But he managed to compose himself. "Just leave me alone," he said forcefully.

No more conversation was to be had after that. Certainly not with Scorpius, but even talking to each other while the other boy was stoically staring out of the window became impossible, and after a few aborted attempts to talk to each other, they gave up.

The silence was only interrupted once, when the trolley arrived. The cousins hastily bought a few sweets, conscious of the strange looks the trolley witch was giving Scorpius, who did not once turn away from the window the whole time she was there. They ate in silence after his refusal to even acknowledge their hesitant offers to share their sweets with him.

All things considered, the journey was as uncomfortable as it could have been. Rose said as much when they were finally off the train and away from Scorpius.

"We should have stayed with Molly and the prefects," she whined.

"No way! We should have stayed with the quidditch players. At least they were fun the first five minutes."

They joined the other first years and followed Hagrid to the boats. They finally got the opportunity to get to know some other first years on their way to the castle. They shared the boat with a quiet, tall girl who kept staring at everything with awe and who turned out to be muggleborn, and a boy with the sort of ordinary looks that one easily overlooks, but who made up for that with his incessant chatter.

By the time they reached Hogwarts Rose was on the best way to becoming friends with the muggleborn girl, and the boy, Alan, who turned out to be Ernie McMillan's son, had told Albus his whole life history, and had started on tales from their parents' school days. Albus had tuned him out by the time they arrived in the Chamber of Reception, until he mentioned Malfoy.

"Malfoy?" Albus could not help but ask.

"Yes, him. Dad says he used to act like he owned the school. Of course they didn't know then that his father was a Death Eater-" He whispered the last part. "Or that he would soon become one as well. Dad says it's a shame he never got to pay for that. But of course he helped your dad defeat you-know-who." This was whispered as well. "So I guess they had to let him walk free."

Was that a reference to the dark wizard his father had defeated? thought Albus. He tried to remember the name – It was not one that was frequently mentioned at his home. Quiz? Puzzle? Riddle – that was it. And he had also given himself a really strange sounding name, though Albus had never quite understood why. He tried to remember it, but it would not come.

He found himself unexpectedly glad about Alan's company and his habit of constant talking. He was starting to get a feeling that those old stories his father had told him in passing, about Riddle and his fight against him, were a lot more important to other people than his father had made them out to be. The last thing he wanted was to blurt out something silly, and show everyone how little he knew about those things.

"Do you see over there?" Alan was telling him conspiratorially as he snapped out of his thoughts. "That's Malfoy's son over there. He has a really odd name, too, like a true traditional pureblood. Scorpion? Scarabaeus-"

"Scorpius," Albus interrupted him. "His name's Scorpius."

Alan gave him an odd look, but then relented. "Yeah, that might be it." A moment later, he was back to chattering.

Albus tuned him out again, his gaze remaining on Scorpius' back only a few steps away. The blond boy was standing ramrod straight, not one hair out of place. He was surrounded by other first years, but he seemed separate from them, somehow. Alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Albus needed to talk to Rose, who was standing next to him, but who was still talking to her new friend.

"My dad kept going on about fighting a troll, and I thought that was pretty scary," Rose was telling her. "But then Mum gave me this book. It's called Hogwarts, A History, and it says in here that all we have to do is put on the Sorting Hat..."

Before Albus could think of a way to extricate himself from Alan, and attract Rose's attention, they were interrupted by the arrival of a professor.

"Silence!" With that he swept into the room, his black robes billowing behind him. He was an extremely strict-looking wizard, sallow-faced, hook-nosed, with shoulder-length limp hair. And that one word, together with his appearance, was enough to stop everyone from making the slightest bit of sound.

"I am the Deputy Headmaster, and Head of Slytherin House, Severus Snape," he began, and dashed all of Albus' hopes of having wrongly identified him. "You are about to begin your magical education, the significance of which should not be lost on you. You are about to be sorted into one of Hogwarts' honourable Houses – Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or Hufflepuff – something that will affect your whole career at Hogwarts. You will be called into the Great Hall shortly. In the meantime, you might consider making yourselves look a little more presentable." He sneered at that, clearly not holding out any hopes of them being any successful at it, and swept out of the room.

Albus had to wonder about their reception at Hogwarts. Whether or not Snape was the bravest man, as Albus' father had told him, he sure seemed to be the strictest. The way students had drawn together in his presence, more than a few had been scared of him. The only thing he had accomplished in the boy's opinion was to scare everyone away from becoming members of Slytherin and having him as Head of House. He had certainly strengthened Albus' resolve to stay away from there, no matter what his dad might have told him.

Albus pulled Rose over to the side as soon as Snape had left. He filled her in on what Alan had told him.

"It must be awful for him," Rose said softly. "Everyone who was against Voldemort only sees him as the son of a Death Eater, and everyone who supported Voldemort sees him as the son of a traitor."

That had been Albus' instinct as well, but it did not make things better to have Rose agree with him. He suddenly realised that he was feeling miserable on Scorpius' behalf – not a comfortable feeling for someone who was used to being happy as a rule. On the positive side, he now recalled the dark wizard's name.

"That's why he was acting so strangely on the train!" Rose drew his attention again. "He really must have thought we were making fun of him, insulting him..."

Guilt was added to Albus' already bad mood. "But we didn't know. We couldn't have guessed-"

"Maybe we should have. The way complete strangers react to our parents – Whatever they did must have been very important."

"But wasn't that, like, ages ago?"

Rose shrugged helplessly.

Albus did not pay much attention to the sorting of the students in front of him, occupied as he was with his own thoughts. Until Malfoy's name was called. As the other boy sat down facing the students, he looked paler than Albus had seen him all day, his pointed face tight and deliberately expressionless.

It took a while before the Sorting Hat proclaimed him a Slytherin. Then Scorpius stood up, carefully placed the hat back on the stool, and headed over to the Slytherin table.

There was a look in his eyes Albus could not identify immediately, but it left a bitter taste in his mouth. That look did not vanish as the students at his table started clapping to welcome him. If anything, it got worse. For a moment only, Albus caught his eye, and what he saw there haunted him the rest of the sorting.

Rose, standing next to him, noticed the exchange. "There's nothing we can do, though, is there?" It was more of a warning than a question.

Albus started feeling wretchedly nervous about his sorting, and this time it was not the simple worry that he might not make it into Gryffindor. He was feeling as though he was about to make a vital decision, as though his whole life path was about to be determined.

His whole attention was on the Sorting Hat, though he was taking in little of the actual sorting. He barely even registered Alan McMillan being sorted into Hufflepuff. In no time at all, it seemed, Albus himself was sitting facing the other students, and putting the Sorting Hat on his head. The last thing he saw before everything went dark was Rose's gaze on him, worried on his behalf.

As he waited to be sorted, his mind began to wander. It had been an eventful day. He was starting to understand that a new stage of his life had begun, one that he was not quite as well-prepared for as he had thought, despite his numerous relatives at Hogwarts and his magical parentage. He had already had to reconsider some of his ideas concerning his parents' past, and he wondered how many more surprises he could expect. Certainly, neither his happy childhood, nor his muggle primary school had prepared him for his dealings with people like Scorpius Malfoy. Thinking of which-

"My, my, someone's got a busy mind," a voice said in his head.

Albus was so startled, he almost jumped out of his skin. "Are – are you the Sorting Hat?" he thought back hesitantly.

"The one and only," came the reply.

So this was it, thought Albus, the hat was about to sort him. Again, he was seized by nervousness. No. This was worse than nervousness. This was fear, realised a dismayed Albus, as he felt his chances of being sorted into Gryffindor slip away. His brother had been right all along, he did not have what it took to make it into the House of the brave.

"Now, now, none of that," came the hat's consoling voice. "Not everybody can be as brash and forward as your brother. And a good thing, too. I fear the teachers wouldn't be able to handle another one so soon after Fred and James had been unleashed on them. You may not have his daring, but that doesn't make you a coward-"

But it did, thought Albus. James was never afraid of anything. And even though he was one for pranks and mischief, everyone liked him, because he was the first to defend those weaker than himself, just like their father had taught them. Or tried to, thought Albus on the verge of tears. His father had hardly been successful in his case. He was afraid of the stupidest things. Even the hat's voice had frightened him, not to mention the prospect of being sorted. He must have looked like a scared rabbit, sitting there in front of everyone. No wonder Rose had looked worried. He must have looked almost as scared as... as...

Scorpius Malfoy. The boy was refusing to leave his thoughts, it seemed. Frightened, yes, that was how he had looked after the hat had put him in Slytherin. Anger rose in Albus. "How could you send him there when he was so afraid?" he asked the hat indignantly.

There was a short pause. "I did not put him in Slytherin against his will," the hat replied, and Albus wondered if he had imagined the resigned tone.

So he had wanted to go there? Even though he had looked so afraid? The hat remained silent, and Albus realised it was giving him time to figure it out. He thought back to Scorpius' expression after he had taken off the hat. He had not been able to recognise it immediately, but now it occurred to him that he had seen it before. The other boy had looked like one of those ferrets Hagrid caught for Buckbeak. That was exactly how they looked when they came face-to-face with the hippogriff.

And yet, he had been willing. He was the son of a Death Eater, and he was proud of being Draco Malfoy's son.

"Go on," the hat urged him gently.

It was a bit disconcerting that the hat was listening to his thoughts, but he ignored it. This was more important. He had known he could not ignore Scorpius Malfoy the moment he had seen him surrounded by those older Slytherins, telling him things he obviously did not want to hear. But Scorpius had not run away the first chance he got, when James had turned up. Neither had he wanted to be placed in a House other than Slytherin. He would not hide whose son he was.

That was bravery. Or maybe loyalty. Either way, it was something Albus admired. And despite their unfortunate first encounter, he wanted to get to know the other boy.

A strange sort of nervous excitement seized him. He could already see where he was heading, though he could not quite bring himself to think it yet.

"You want me to place you in Slytherin," the Sorting Hat stated matter-of-factly.

Albus' gut clenched in fear and excitement. "Yes," he thought, finally sure of his choice.

"What? And you think I'll just do as you tell me?"

Albus frowned. He had not expected that. After all the teasing he had received from James, and his father's parting words, he had subconsciously started to think Slytherin was where he was heading, and he would have to find a way to convince the hat to change its mind.

The Sorting hat chuckled. "I'm afraid it's not quite like that. Your very reason for wanting to be put in Slytherin reeks of chivalry and courage. If I had any doubts before that you would do well in Gryffindor, that's certainly no longer the case now. Oh, yes, you are very much your father's son."

That was everything Albus had wanted to hear, and he almost lost his resolve. But then he remembered the look Scorpius had given him before heading over to the Slytherin table. It had been a plea for help, Albus was sure of that.

Despite his brave decision, Scorpius really did not want to go to Slytherin, so the don't-make-me-do-it expression had been understandable. What Albus was not getting was why Scorpius had looked at him. Had he...? Could he have been...? Scorpius had been all alone in his compartment, and later, in the Chamber of Reception, Albus had noticed how alone he looked. So was it possible that Albus and Rose had been the only ones who had tried to befriend him?

The hat remained silent this time, not giving him any answers.

But that was an answer in itself, was it not? "You want me to go to Slytherin," he stated, convinced that he was right. If he thought about it, the hat had practically talked him into it. Well, sort of. "So why don't you just put me there?"

"It's not that simple. I can't just place you where I want. I have to place you where you belong-"

"What about Scorpius? Does he belong in Slytherin?" The boy was motivated by loyalty – hardly a Slytherin trait.

There was a long pause, before the hat finally said, "Yes."

"Why, though? What makes him more suited than me?"

"Pride in his pureblooded family – even if it stems from his love for his parents, rather than any belief in pureblood ideology."

Albus thought hard. "But he would have done better in a different house, wouldn't he?" He went on without confirmation. "You put him in Slytherin because that was his choice. I'm from a wizarding family, as well. And my mum's a pureblood."

The Sorting Hat actually laughed at that.

"Yes, yes, I know, not the sort that gets into Slytherin, but I still qualify," Albus went on quickly, not wanting to be interrupted. "And you said yourself, at the beginning, that I'm not like James. I usually think before I act, and I-"

"And you'd like to prove yourself. Very much like your father, yes. Oh, all right, but do remember it's against my better judgement. Slytherin!"


	3. Chapter 3

The last word was said aloud, and a moment later the hat was yanked off his head.

The first thing he saw, as before, was Rose, now looking at him with resignation mixed with even more worry. He had a feeling she had suspected he would pull off something like that. She usually knew him pretty well. They exchanged an awkward half-smile in the absolute silence that had followed the hat's announcement.

Albus got up on wobbly legs, resolutely refusing to look over at the Gryffindor table to see James' reaction. He would face him when he had a chance to explain himself.

Before he started heading over to the Slytherin table, he caught sight of Snape, holding the hat he had pulled off his head, and staring at him as if Albus had just pulled a bad prank on him. Albus quickly averted his eyes before the shock on Snape's face turned into something nastier.

Remembering that the scary professor was now his Head of House did not help matters, and Albus suddenly wondered how he would explain his choice to James. Or if he would be able to explain it at all, no longer so sure that he had made the right decision.

As he made his way over to the Slytherin table, Headmistress McGonagall began to clap resolutely, finally breaking the silence that had descended on the Great Hall. The other teachers, with the exception of Snape, soon joined, and even from some of the more forward students a few disjointed claps could be heard.

Albus headed over straight to Scorpius and plopped down in the seat next to him, which was left tellingly empty. "Hello again," he said, as if he was greeting a newly made friend, as if their first meeting a few hours ago had not been a complete disaster. He grinned cheekily at the disbelieving boy next to him.

The rest of the welcoming feast was an uncomfortable affair for Albus. He watched Rose and her new friend being sorted into Gryffindor, and as he glimpsed over to their table – against his better judgement – he saw Rose frantically explaining something to a frowning James.

Then came the Headmistress' speech, and Albus did his best to pretend that her comments about making all first years feel welcomed were not for his benefit.

After that, food was finally on the tables, and Albus dug in, paying no heed to the fact that it was noticeably quieter around him than elsewhere, even on the Slytherin table. The few conversations in his hearing range were stilted and often interrupted following dark looks thrown in his direction. The Slytherins were undoubtedly a rather unpleasant lot, and Albus wondered once again at his father's wisdom for encouraging him to be sorted there.

Albus made up for the quiet around him by chattering not too quietly with Scorpius, doing his best imitation of Alan, making pointless comments about the food, their journey, their upcoming classes, and anything else of no consequence he could think of.

Scorpius, unfortunately for him, had obviously had manners drilled into him that did not allow him to just ignore Albus. He tried to keep his answers as short as possible, and several decibels quieter than Albus, to keep the others' attention as much away from him as possible. He looked remarkably like a twitchy little ferret, shooting covert glances in all directions, and taking quick little bites of his food only when he thought no one was watching.

Sooner than Albus felt ready for it, the tables had been cleared and it was time to head to the dormitories.

The male Slytherin prefect, Vindictus Flint, turned out to be one of the students who had been cornering Scorpius on the train. He had been the one to talk to Fred and James. He turned to Scorpius as soon as they were away from the Great Hall. "Ah, Malfoy, I see you've made it into Slytherin after all." He was doing a poor imitation of pleasant. Albus thought he would seem much less scary if he just went back to glowering. That expression looked so much more natural on his face.

Flint resolutely ignored Albus, something the younger boy was only too happy about. But that did not keep him from dropping nasty little comments against Gryffindors and Albus' relatives as he was acquainting them with their new House. He was not too subtle about it, either. When he mentioned in his modest manner that he was Slytherin's star quidditch player, he followed it up with, "Slytherin has the best quidditch team. Naturally, we won the Quidditch Cup last year, and with the sort of new players the other teams can expect, we won't have any trouble winning it again this year. You should all come and see us play. Who knows, maybe some of you will try out for a position next year."

Flint's comment had obviously been directed against James, and Albus found himself betraying his House loyalties and cheering for Gryffindor on his first evening as Slytherin. He barely suppressed the urge to point out to Flint that they had actually lost the previous year's match against Gryffindor, and only won the Cup due to an unfortunate distribution of points.

When Flint finally decided they had seen and heard enough, they headed for their dormitories. The first year boys were all four to a room, as there were sixteen of them in total. Scorpius was placed in the same room as Albus, which the latter at least thought to be very fortunate. The other two occupants of their dormitory were a pug-faced brown-haired boy, and a very arrogant-looking black-haired boy with a permanent sneer attached to his face.

Silence fell as soon as they were alone in the room. Albus made a lame attempt at conversation by asking about the others' preference of beds, but fell silent again as he noticed the changed mood.

The two boys whose names Albus could not recall slowly closed in on him from the door.

"So, so. A Potter in Slytherin," the black-haired boy said in a deceptively calm manner. "Mind sharing how you did it?"

"The Sorting Hat put me here." Albus was happy to note that his voice sounded perfectly steady.

The other boy gave a sharp snort that was meant to pass for a laugh. "Did you hear that, Parkinson? The Sorting Hat put him here," he told the brown-haired boy without averting his eyes from Albus.

"The hat sure took its time sorting you," said Parkinson. "A proper hatstall, it was. What did you two talk about for that long?"

Albus was surprised. He had not realised up until that point that his sorting had been a hatstall.

"Excellent point, Parkinson. How did you convince it? Or did you do something to it? Confound it somehow?"

"You can't confound the Sorting Hat. Haven't you ever read Hogwarts, A History?"

It was the sort of comment that always annoyed Albus when it came from Rose. The Slytherin boys reacted in the same way. Their faces darkened, and the black-haired boy fingered his wand.

"Calm down, Lestrange," Scorpius interfered. "You can't attack a fellow student." The 'especially this one' went without saying.

"Or what, Malfoy?" Lestrange asked while drawing his wand.

Albus also reached for his wand, though he had no idea what to do with it. He only knew some household charms and the odd pranking spell Fred had learned from his father and he and James had deemed safe for sharing with the younger boy. Nothing useful for duelling. His father's words came back to him, that he should not duel until he had learned how. Oh, if only things were that simple.

"Or you'll get in serious trouble. That's all I'm saying," Scorpius said quietly.

"And how would I get in trouble, Malfoy? Would you tell everyone what happened? What your kin did to the misplaced kitty here?"

Albus bristled at being referred to as kitty. He also noticed how Lestrange's anger seemed to have shifted towards Malfoy for trying to defend Albus. He moved a few steps and effectively placed himself between Scorpius and the other boys. "I'm not a kitty, and I won't need anyone to help me deal with you."

"Not a kitty? Think you can deal with us? Let's see how you deal with a real snake, then. Serpensortia!"

As soon as the spell was spoken, an actual living snake landed at Albus' feet, hissing menacingly, ready to strike.

Then something unexpected happened. Albus hissed back. And to the utter shock of his opponents, the snake first calmed, and then turned to its conjurer. In no time at all, it had cornered the two boys.

"Help! Help!" squealed Parkinson.

"Potter, call it back!" shouted Lestrange, sounding no less panicked.

Albus finally relented with a smirk. "Whatever gave you the idea that the Sorting Hat – enchanted by the great Godric Gryffindor himself – would ever make a mistake? I'm here because I was sorted into Slytherin. I hope we won't have to discuss that again."

The boys mumbled their agreement, even though it had not really been a question.

Albus let Scorpius pick the bed next to the door, and then took the one next to him, again placing himself between the blond boy and the other two.

"Oh, and thanks for the pet," he said as a paring shot while the snake kept guard next to his bed, facing Lestrange in the bed next to Albus.

Despite his earlier bravado, Albus could barely sleep that night, even with the snake obediently guarding him. Every time he woke up, he listened for the sounds of the other boys, trying to determine whether they were asleep or not. At one point he realised that Scorpius was awake as well, while the other two had fallen asleep a long time ago.

"Hey, Scorpius, are you awake?" he whispered.

The silence lasted so long Albus thought the other boy would refuse to talk to him, but then he finally heard a quiet, "Yes."

"Thanks for sticking up for me earlier." Albus thought back, recalling that Lestrange had referred to them as 'kin'. "Especially seeing as they're your relatives."

"They're not. Not in the last few generations, anyway. Lestrange is my great-aunt's husband's cousin, and Parkinson is my father's ex-fiancée's nephew."

"Then why-"

"It's a pureblood thing," said Malfoy with some hesitation.

"Oh," said Albus, though he really did not understand.

"It's some crazy idea about the right sort of families trying to stick together. We are all related to some degree, but it's also about being old supporters of you-know-who. Which is ridiculous, really. Neither of their families got involved in the war, and they were only too happy to stay out of trouble when you-know-who's side lost."

"Oh," said Albus again, and he did not understand any more now than he had before.

"How did you end up in Slytherin?" asked Scorpius after a while.

"Hey, I'm a parselmouth. Doesn't that prove I belong here?"

Scorpius snorted quietly. "That was pretty awesome, I'll give you that. Parkinson's face as he cried for help... But that doesn't prove anything. Your father's a parselmouth as well, isn't he? And he was in Gryffindor."

"All right," conceded Albus. "But tell me this first: Did the hat want to place you in Slytherin? Because if not, you must have convinced it somehow, too."

"I had my reasons," Scorpius answered so quietly, Albus barely heard him.

"Look, Scorpius, about before," Albus began hesitantly. "We weren't making fun of you, or anything, Rose and I. We really didn't know any more than what we told you... Our families really don't talk much about their past, and all that."

"Must be nice," Scorpius said wistfully.

Albus got up and moved over to Scorpius' bed. "I want us to be friends. That's why I asked the Sorting Hat to place me here. I... I know our meeting on the train didn't go so well, but we've talked since then, and I told you things, and you told me some things, as well. Like now, about purebloods, and stuff... And I think it's really cool that you're sticking up for your family, but I think you could use someone to stick up for you once in a while, as well. I think we could both use a friend." He held out his hand.

They shook on it.


End file.
